CARRABASSETT VALLEY – A citizen’s petition requesting a March referendum on construction of a $1.2 million library/community center was recently accepted by selectmen.

The board will hold two public meetings at 6 p.m. on Feb. 13 and March 6 before the secret ballot referendum to allow people to discuss it. The first meeting meets a requirement that a hearing be held 10 days prior to the vote. The second was scheduled to give people a second chance to attend, said Town Manager Dave Cota on Thursday.

The vote calls for the Library/Community Center Building Committee to raise at least half of the $1.2 million. Although they are holding a capital campaign to raise $600,000, they are not sure how much the cost will be, he said.

Approximately 30 people initiated the petition, Cota said. It does not authorize construction as it doesn’t authorize the board to raise funds or borrow money for the project, he added.

“Its a concept vote,” Cota said. The vote shows that the town does or does not support the idea of construction of the new library/community building.

Cota felt people wanted to see a referendum vote rather than town meeting vote so that citizens could vote by absentee ballot. Absentee ballots are available at the town office to vote on the referendum and the annual election of municipal officers, he said.

The referendum will take place from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 12 at the town office.

The building committee has raised more than $101,000 toward the project with donations continuing to come in, he said. The town has also been putting away $5,000 a year in reserve and has approximately $37,000 available for the project.

At town meeting, the committee will ask the town to put $200,000 from surplus or the town’s recreation endowment fund in reserve to show that the town financially supports the project. The committee believes the town’s financial support will help it when members approach larger donors, he said.

A proposal to build the Carrabassett Valley Public Library and Community Center at the Anti-Gravity Center Complex resulted from the need for new space to house the library and a permanent place for a community child care facility. The child care wing of the building will be leased to Western Maine Centers for Children.

The lease on the present library space expires in the summer and the landlord plans to provide less rental space and a short-term rental agreement. The library board has been searching for a site to build on town land.

Children in community child care are moved from one space to another depending on the season. They are moved from Sugarloaf’s Guest Child Care Center to the golf course for the winter.

Sugarloaf Mountain Corp. offered land next to the Anti-Gravity Complex for the library to build with the condition that rental space be made available for a child care provider.

The building committee will give a presentation on the proposed project at the public hearing and answer questions, he said.

Town Manager Dave Cota brought the groups together to form a building committee. After the sale of Sugarloaf Mountain, Boyne Resorts USA agreed to honor the land commitment.